In following up on references to gender transgression in medieval Arabic literature, I’ve been struck by the way certain motifs align differently from what we see in the literature of Christian cultures. In European romances, “Amazonian” characters who dress and act as men are often a context for accidental homoeroticism. Cross-dressing in general also provides this opportunity.
LHMP
Blog entry
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 54 (previously 22c) - Book Appreciation with Jeannelle M. Ferreira - Transcript
(Originally aired 2018/05/19 - listen here)
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 53 (previously 22b) - Interview with Jeannelle M. Ferreira - Transcript
(Originally aired 2018/05/12 - listen here)
As I note below, I originally picked this up because I thought it would cover all types of cross-dressing in the context of chivalric romances and tournaments. But even though it's restricted to contexts where men perform femininity in a public context, it's still quite relevant to understanding medieval attitudes toward gender crossing and gender performance. In particular, it's a strong reminder that men and women lived in entirely different universes with regard to how cross-gender performance and gender transgression were received.
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 22a - On the Shelf for May 2018 - Transcript
(Originally aired 2018/05/05 - listen here)
Welcome to On the Shelf for May 2018.
So there I was this morning with the brain-weasels running non-stop in my head telling me, "Nobody actually cares about your stupid podcast. Nobody listens to it except by accident because they're subscrbed to the whole Lesbian Talk Show group. That's why nobody's sent you any questions for your silly 'Ask Sappho' segment. Because they Just. Don't. Care. Here, I'll prove it to you." And I ran a google search on the exact phrase "lesbian historic motif podcast" and scrolled through all the entries that are just podcast venues or my own website. And...wait. The Guardian?
While one of the underlying purposes of the LHMP as a resource for authors is to find examples of women in history who engaged in same-sex relationships, when clear examples from women's lives are not available, a second purpose is to identify cultural experiences that women could have recognized as reflecting their same-sex desires. Or, in simpler terms, if a character in a historical fiction didn't have direct experience of same-sex love, what might she encounter that would validate the concept? What was there in her environment that could "give her ideas"?
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 51 (previously 21d) - Diana and Callisto: The Sometimes Problematic Search for Representation - transcript
(Originally aired 2018/04/28 - listen here)
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 50 (previously 21c) - Book Appreciation with Liz Bourke - Transcript
(Originally aired 2018/04/21 - listen here)
Historical studies of prominent women such as Queen Elizabeth I often focus on the men who filled key positions in their governments or who served as advisors. Such an approach that looks primarily at formal structures can overlook the immense power and influence that women had in a social context where people spent most of their lives in gender-segregated contexts.
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